WHCA lodges press access complaint over Apollo 11 meeting

7/22/14 12:42 PM EDT

The ongoing battle for press access at the White House continued on Tuesday as the White House Correspondents' Association lodged a formal complaint with press secretary Josh Earnest for limiting coverage of President Barack Obama’s meeting with Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.

CBS News’ Major Garrett lodged the complaint during the press briefing on Tuesday. Only still photographers were allowed into the meeting for a pool spray.

“The astronauts were among the most visible, televised national heroes this country has ever known, that entire program was financed by the American taxpayer. Stills presentation of that limits television coverage of that event we believe that is a classic definition of something that should have the broadest press coverage imaginable, and we are therefore lodging a complaint against your decision to keep us out,” Garrett said.

Earnest said he “understood” the complaint, but the press corp wasn’t done. ABC News’ Jon Karl then started a back and forth with Earnest, asking why there was such intense secrecy around the event.

“It’s merely a scheduling matter, there was a number of things on the president’s schedule," Earnest said. "You know we had a trip to the Dutch Embassy, the president making remarks at EEOB… and the president needs to get on a plane at 1 o’clock this afternoon. The president has a very busy schedule and we weren’t able to accommodate TV cameras this time."

That response wasn’t well-received by the press corps, which murmured that the last spray took all of 38 seconds.

“He couldn’t have been five minutes later for the fundraiser out in Seattle -- he really couldn’t accommodate a few minutes for open coverage of this?” Karl asked.

“Not this time,” Earnest said.

“I find that explanation, frankly, a little hard to believe, given that this is such a small amount of time,” Karl said.

Earnest then said in the past “some television journalists” have complained of having too little time in pool sprays.

“I’ve probably been one of those,” Karl said. “But is it because some of those Apollo astronauts, including Neil Armstrong … was very critical of this president for the way he’s handled the space program … is that why the president didn’t want to see television cameras in this photo op?”

“Absolutely not,” Earnest said. He then explained that Obama invited the astronauts to the White House to honor their contributions and that the administration is proud of the bringing the space program “to the next level.”